Charlotte's journey
by ohhockeydays
Summary: Charlotte finds herself in a bad situation. She is pregnant and Mr. Collins is unaware that the child isn't his. To top it all off she has fallen in love with the baby's father. How will this work out?    Disclaimer: I don't own the characters...
1. Chapter 1

**A Love Most True**

True love isn't something you can plan. You can't see a person and decide that you love them. You can't accept a marriage proposal because it's a comfortable option. Love will out and it will never die. Charlotte Collins was painfully aware of this fact. She had been so sure that she could love Mr. Collins, so sure she could control her feelings. But he'd come back for her and all her feelings had come rushing back. This was the reason that she was tearing around the house while the servants and her husband were in church. She had pleaded an indisposition and since she was pregnant Mr. Collins excused her "on this occasion".

Actually the child was the reason this was happening. It wasn't her husband's baby she was carrying. It was lucky for her that her husband was too stupid to work it out. She got out a few of her gowns and threw them in a bag. She could only take as much with her as she could carry. Her instructions were clear, she was to walk 2 miles, take a post chaise to the inn and meet him there. Her hands were shaking as she closed the door behind her and walked away from her home.

0-0

It was nightfall when she finally arrived at the Rose and Crown. She was exhausted and famished. He was waiting for her and escorted her inside. He allowed her to eat and drink until she felt better. She was still exhausted, however, and was not in the mood for any entertainment he had in mind. He was visibly angry at that and she realized that this was the first time that she had disagreed with him. He refused to be near her for the rest of the evening until she couldn't stand it anymore and gave in. She cried herself to sleep that night, lamenting but not regretting her actions.

0-0

The next morning she woke up, alone. There was a letter waiting for her and she opened it quickly. It read:

_Dear Charlotte,_

_I need you to believe that I am indeed sorry for the pain this letter will cause you. I have spoken to your husband. He came a few hours ago. He assured me that he will take you back and all will be forgiven._

She sobbed loudly. This couldn't be true.

_I found, on speaking to him, that I could not do you such evil that I had planned. You are another man's wife and I am another woman's husband. We must both do our duty in the marriages we have willingly entered. Believe me, I am sorry._

She crumpled the note and threw it into the fire. She was sobbing violently now. The cad! How did he dare to presume to act in her best interest? She detested William Collins and she loved _him_. She knew he didn't love his wife either. She had given up everything for him and this was how he repaid her? She packed her bag again and made her way home, what other choice did she have?

0-0

**A/N: Okay, it seems like everyone has really different opinions on whom her lover is. I'm posting a poll on my profile and please, please, please take the time to vote.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Okay since I haven't quite decided who the love of Charlotte's life is I've decided to write just a little bit from all the candidates' lives. Vote on my profile for your favourite seducer! The last one is an OC… And you might have figured that I don't really see Darcy as a candidate XD**

**A lover most flighty**

Colonel Fitzwilliam looked at his wife Caroline over the breakfast table. She was a very resourceful woman, very determined. He had been charmed by her wit and attentions. Of course her fortune hadn't exactly lessened his esteem for her either. Mr. Bingley had been quite happy with his sister's match and had readily given them his blessing. Only after the wedding did the colonel realize what kind of creature his wife was, jealous and petty-minded. She hated quite a lot of his friends, including the wonderful Elizabeth Darcy. Nevertheless he lived with his choice. He had married someone suitable and in the eyes of the world their marriage was a happy one. He only wished that his visits to Derbyshire hadn't betrayed what a happy match based on love was truly like. That was what he had wanted.

0-0

Mr. Bennet looked at his wife, who was currently gossiping with some friend. She was animated and loud, as always. Mr. Bennet was not the first or the last man to fall in love with a pretty girl. His wife had been extremely pretty and he had been young and reckless. His love and esteem for her had quickly disappeared and been replaced by a sad sort of resignation. He was finding it hard to cope with her now that his two favourite daughters had left him. He missed their sensible conversation. He sighed and got up. He really needed to find a hobby.

0-0

Was his wife ever going to stop talking to him? George Wickham was _that _close to slapping her pretty little face. The only thing that woman was good for was inflating his ego and giving him a place to stay. He had tried to avoid her as much as possible. She was popular among his friends and was usually sufficiently distracted when someone came to visit. He tried to keep her occupied, usually because he really didn't want her to find out about one of his latest mistresses. Lydia might do something stupid, such as telling Darcy. George definitely didn't want to duel him. So maybe he shouldn't slap her. He nodded his head, smiled and tried to say "Yes, dear" when it was necessary.

0-0

Darcy smiled at his sleeping Elizabeth. He had been married for a few months now and still felt like the luckiest person alive. She had made his life worth living. She was amazing with the servants and could always entertain his friends. Not to mention the fact that she loved him. He could hardly believe his luck that this extraordinary, witty, beautiful young woman actually _loved_ him. He twirled one of her curls around his finger and kissed her forehead. She was truly his angel on earth.

0-0

Viscount De Cervaise walked along the corridors of his manor. His wife was off on one of her Paris trips, not that he minded. He did everything he could to make sure she was gone as much as possible. His marriage was truly a match made in hell. If he had another chance he wouldn't have married her. No fortune or property was worth this much despair.

**0-0-0-0**

Charlotte spent the rest of the week cooped up in her bedroom crying. She couldn't even face her husband, too busy thinking about what could have been. How could _he _have done this to her? How could _he_ have hurt her that much? Determined she got up and wrote a letter and got one of the servants to post it for her. She got herself together, called her husband and let him know that she was going to spend some time with her parents. Hopefully _he_ would come and they would talk this through. She knew that she couldn't stand the sight of her husband anymore. She blamed him for everything that had happened.

The next day she was off to Hertfordshire, with her husband's blessing and a long letter from him for her parents. He still thought he could get her back, that she had made a mistake. She scorned his stupidity. He was too bigheaded for his own good. He didn't know that she could_ never _go back. She had lived a full life, if only for a few hours, and she could never go back to a miserable half-life with him.

0-0

Her family was very glad to see her back. Just breathing the familiar air and walking through the familiar rooms left her feeling a whole lot better. She smiled and seemed happy. She carefully dodged all personal questions and listened to what her family had to say instead. She rested a lot and didn't even go into company for the first week of her visit.

0-0

She got out the letter she had received a few days of her arrival. _He_ was going to come today. She got up extra early and got herself ready. She walked across the field and into the woods. She sat down on a wall and waited patiently. She heard a rustle behind her and turned her head slightly. There _he _stood.

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**A/N: Okay, as I said before: Please vote! The next chapter will be the last. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A lover most sacrificing**

He couldn't stand it anymore. He couldn't suppress his feelings for a minute longer. He saw _her_ sitting there and all his tender emotions came rushing back, all the feelings he could never feel toward his wife. She looked up at him and he saw the love in her eyes. He belonged with her and he had been a fool to doubt it. He didn't care about society anymore. She was worth every penny he owned, every friend and anything else he loved. She was his very own Charlotte. He never wanted her to belong to anyone else. He knew that his love was selfish but if she didn't object then who was he to complain? He couldn't believe that now and forever she would belong to him, wake up next to him, and smile adoringly into his face. She would finally be completely his. He saw that her stomach was beginning to grow heavy with his very own child. He was glad that it wasn't her husband's. He didn't know how he would have dealt with the constant reminder that she had ever been another person's wife. He ran toward her, his arms ready.

0-0

He came rushing toward her, the love evident on his face. How was she going to be able to do this? To tell him it was over? He was holding her now, caressing her and she found herself responding to his touch. He was kissing her, so softly and tenderly. It felt so natural, so right. She allowed herself to pretend, just for a moment, that this wasn't going to be the end. She knew what she had to do, as an honourable woman. She had done wrong and she needed to redeem herself and become a better person. She broke off the kiss and looked up into his beautiful, beautiful eyes.

"I'm sorry. This is wrong. We have to stop now."

And she turned away from him. Feeling like her soul was being torn apart.

0-0

She looked so cold and unresponsive, standing there with her back turned. He wanted to shake her, to make her see sense. He could never do that to her though. He loved her, even more than he loved himself.

"Why, Charlotte?"

She turned slowly around to face him. She looked broken but her eyes held a terrifying kind of finality.

"Because it's the right thing to do."

"How can it be right when it feels so wrong?"

"I don't know. I know this is the right thing to do though."

He hesitated before asking the question that had been preying on his mind.

"Are you going back to Collins now?"

She looked genuinely surprised at this.

"No. I hadn't even considered it."

"Good."

He tried to but he just couldn't turn away from her and leave.

"Charlotte, I love you. More than I think you realize. I would do anything for you."

She was sobbing now. Her next words were choked.

"I'm so sorry."

He felt tears running down his own face.

"So am I, Charlotte. Honestly, I don't know how I'm going to survive this."

"Survive for my sake. For our child's sake."

"I would do anything for you, Charlotte."

"Would you send the child away after it's born? To a good family?"

He sighed.

"If that's what you want."

0-0

Charlotte Lucas Collins looked at the love of her life, Colonel Richard Fitzwilliam. She couldn't stand seeing him like this, so destroyed. She was shaking uncontrollably now from the emotional strain. She knew she should leave now, while she could still control her limbs. He drew her close and, rocking her and whispering sweet nothings into her ear. She let him, knowing that she desperately needed the comfort. Eventually, she broke apart from him and saw the hurt in his eyes. She simply stared at him for a while before speaking, realizing something of vital importance.

"Richard?"

He sighed. "Yes, Charlotte?"

"Are people allowed to change their minds without being fickle?"

She saw a tiny glimmer of hope in his eyes that he fiercely tried to repress.

"What do you mean?"

She smiled at him.

"I've just decided that I don't care what people think. They can judge me, you and our child all they want but it's worth it just to be with you."

He was smiling at her now too, the glimmer of hope growing and lighting up his face.

"Do you really mean it, Charlotte? Will you be mine?"

She gave him a breathtaking smile.

"For ever and ever, Richard."

The End

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A/N: Well that was interesting, right? 


	4. Epilogue

A/N: Okay. I know this was supposed to end in the last chapter but due to a couple of unanswered questions I've decided to write an epilogue. * Yay *

0-0

An epilogue most conclusive

Charlotte had known what her choice entailed. They would both be banished from all society, doomed to spend the rest of their days without ever seeing the people they called friends ever again. As the practical woman she was she sat down and wrote all of her acquaintances a letter, telling them what she had done and asking them to forgive her. She only received a handful of responses, some of them horribly mean.

It took a few months before her divorce went through. During these months she was well aware that she was living in sin. Her father had completely severed all connections with her. She received the occasional letter from her mother. Her sister Maria, at least, didn't seem to hate her and they wrote to each other frequently. Darcy and Lizzie had offered them money and anything else they might need. They had even invited them to come and stay at Pemberley but Charlotte had resolutely declined. Just because her own name was going to be dragged through the mud didn't mean that her friends had to suffer as well. There was no harm in letters so she allowed herself to stay in touch with the people who still seemed to care.

She had visited Mr. Collins and explained what had happened to him. He had been shocked, to say the least. It was unheard of for a clergyman to get a divorce and she had had to nearly force him to file for one. Mr. Bennet was sickly and Mr. Collins was looking forward to coming into his property soon. She was convinced that this had been the deciding factor in his eventual acquiescence.

Caroline had thrown a fit, as usual. But Colonel Fitzwilliam had had no problem with leaving her. Charlotte realized then how much he must have hated his marriage. She heard, a few years later, that Caroline had managed to catch a German Baron.

During these months she was growing bigger and bigger. Her soon-to-be husband had a small property in Scotland that they had retired to. His relatives had unsuccessfully tried to persuade him to leave her. He had hardly a friend left in the world now. It was hard for both of them. Charlotte was glad that he still had Darcy.

They got married quietly in the local parish. Some of their neighbours accepted them, despite what they had done, and they started making a few friends.

In November Charlotte gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. They called him Henry, after colonel Fitzwilliam's father. He grew up to be a soldier in the army and steadily rose in rank.

Neither of them regretted their decision. They were both truly happy. Eventually their closest friends and family came around and even consented to visit them occasionally. Charlotte and her husband lived a secluded existence for the rest of their lives. They had two more children, daughters, called Elizabeth and Georgiana.

They had taken a chance and relied on their love and it had worked. Their love had been strong enough. It had endured. It had been worth it.

The End (for real this time)


End file.
